Freshwater
by Moonspirit7
Summary: Based on a picture by c00ckiem0nsters on Deviantart. An unwilling Sherlock falls into the hands of a government-funded aquarium. An equally as unwilling John is discharged from the army, only to become a security guard. Maybe the worst things that happen to people, can also be some of the best things. Mer!lock
1. Chapter 1

An- Hi, so I haven't been posting a lot of fics, so hopefully this gets a few readers special thanks to OrangeflowerOJ for editing and revising!

* * *

All Sherlock could hear was the constant pounding of waves and the screech of the wind as it grated over the surface of the flailing ocean. All sense of direction was lost, his body being whipped in all directions until it seemed as if he was a stick in a typhoon. This had to be the worst storm he had ever experienced. Foam and salt swirled together in a dizzying mixture. The sky faded from view as Sherlock was pushed under the waves once more. Surprise caught his pale features as the world began to go black.

He awoke, if you could call it that, to the feeling of having been pushed over miles of broken glass. Sherlock was not bleeding, not that he could tell, and his breathing seemed normal, wait, no, something wasn't right. The feeling under Sherlock's glistening blue scales wasn't the cool embrace of water, but the scratchy grate of what he recognized to be sand.

'Oh no, this can not be happening!' he thought frantically, trying to move, but he found himself completely immobile, exhausted from the battering earlier on. Slowly, Sherlock found himself slipping back into unconsciousness, the delicate gills on his sides and neck felt as if they were being blasted with hot, dry, air. 'So this is how I will die'.

The strangest dream took place in Sherlock's mind. He was in an underwater cave, surrounded by voices that seemed blurry, as if far away and very close at the same time. He inhaled sharply to realize that he was not underwater at all, but on a beach, completely alone, although the voices remained. There was a sharp pain in his back, and Sherlock tried to get back into the water, only to feel a pressure on his arms and chest, he could not move. Sherlock could do nothing as the world went dark for the third time.

When he awoke once more, he did not completely understand his surroundings. He was once again inside water, but something smelled strange, as if it had been tampered with. There were many, many colorful fish around him that swam in only one place. Sherlock tried to swim to them, with a powerful flick of his tail, he swam forward, only to crash into an invisible wall. He reached out his hand, the white slender digits and ocean blue webbing between them going forward, only to be stopped once more by the wall. It suddenly clicked as to why the fish were not swimming away. They were prisoners, as, Sherlock realized with fury, was he.

This could only be the work of humans, evil creatures that stole fish from the sea like a wale eating krill. He had heard many stories of how mermaids and mermen had met humans, befriended them, never to be seen again. Maybe this is where they all ended up, thought Sherlock.

His fears were proved correct as, all of a sudden, a door opened, and three of the very creatures that Sherlock was thinking about entered the chamber. Sherlock found that the wall did not stop at the edge of the water, so he pushed above it to get a better view of his captors, resting his fin-adorned forearms on he edge of the tank.

The first man was short, with black hair that he had slicked back, and out of his malicious looking face. The second man was considerably taller, with crew cut blond hair, a square jaw, and broad shoulders. The third human was a woman, her brunette locks she had obviously spent long amounts of time grooming along with her perfect makeup and long white dress that hugged her curvy frame.

They approached Sherlock apprehensively but surely, stopping only a couple of feet before Sherlock. The short man stepped forward, his coal black eyes looking straight into Sherlocks deep blue ones. Everything was compleley still for a few seconds, although they semed like an eternity. Finally, the man spoke.

"What is your name?" He asked, even though it sounded much more like a command. Sherlock had studied the language of humans meticulously in hopes of finding a human to speak to, this being the least of his expectations. Sherlock curled his lips up, revealing a mouth full of shark teeth, and bared them at the man in defiance.

"What is your name?" The man repeated his command, obviously not used to being said no to. Sherlock remained silent, his eyes boring daggers into the bodies of the humans.

"Very well, if you don't like talking, I guess I'll just have to... persuade you." His voice sounded like horrible, like rocks clashing together. A few seconds later, a shock of pain raced up Sherlock's spine. He thrashed his tail, and writhed in pain, crying out as water splashed out of his prison. As suddenly as it started, the pain stopped, leaving Sherlock gasping for breath.

Again, the voice of the man reached his pointed ears, "Electric shock, delivered from the transmitter I had implanted in your back. Every time you defy me, I'll turn it on, understood?" His words full of poison and malice.

"Sherlock"

"What?"

"I am Sherlock." His voice rose from the tank, deep and cool as the waters of the sea itself. He saw the man smile and begin herding the female human back to the door, calling behind his shoulder, "Sebastian is here to watch over you, so behave. Oh, and we open in ten minutes." The doors closed and Sherlock was left alone with the silent Sebastian.

Sherlock muttered to himself, the last sentence the man had said made no sense at all. What is opening? How long is ten minutes? Sherlock's brain switched on, the gears beginning to grind and turn. In less than five minutes time, Sherlock had the perfect plan slowly, as this was something sherlock had never done before, he began to sing. Sebastian turned, at first confused, but Sherlock could see his eyes clouding over. Perfect, now the man was under his will. Sherlock told the man to come closer and Sherlock reached out, planning to have the human carry him to the sea. Suddenly, the doors opened and the shock was enough to make him lose control over the guard. The moment the doors opened, Sherlock had been expecting the cold man, or the pretty woman, what he was not expecting was a barrage of humans. He had never seen so many in his life. Quickly, Sherlock dove down, until not a hair on his raven head peeked above the surface of the water.

The humans surrounded him on all sides, their talking and yelling and screeching loud enough the make Sherlocks ears throb. More people came in, dressed like Sebastian, moving the crowd away from the glass and, thankfully, farther away from Sherlock. He could only stare in horror and amazement as humans seemed to press in on all sides, just looking at him. There was men and women and children, old people, mothers, infants, fathers, adolescents, every type of person imaginable had come to see Sherlock; the first mermaid ever to be held in captivity.

The next year was exactly like his first day. People staring at him, food being tossed next to his head, and then loneliness. His only company were the fishes that swam in the tanks around him. Slowly, he learned that the cold man was malled Moriarty, and the woman was Irene Adler. More guards joined Sebastian, two of which he did not like, and one whom he could stand to be around. Sally Donovan preferred not to look at him, usually calling him a freak, followed obediently by that idiot, Anderson. Lestrade was ok, he had seen a few years, but was far from old. Molly, another person he had met was a scientist, although she was only there to look after the fish, not Sherlock.

Many times had Sherlock attempted to use his song to escape, each time failing and left to the pain of the transmitter still in his back. Every Sunday, when the aquarium was closed, Moriarty came in to preform 'tests' on him. These mostly consisted of unnecessary pain on Sherlocks part and maniacal laughter from his torturer. Over time, many new scars had been added to his collection, but Sherlock remained alive, and remained in his prison.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Bombs sounded, bullets were fired, and the sounds of pain and anger filled the air. John ran, his boots thumping on the dirt, and sweat dripping onto his army uniform. The red cross on his arm stood out as he hurried to the side of a fallen comrade but it was too late, he had already died. Standing up once more, John took a look around, wiping the sandy locks of hair out of his eyes.

Suddenly, a noise like a cannon blast sounded and shooting pain exploded in his shoulder, he fell to the ground gripping the wound while blood seeped out between his tanned fingers. Not a single person was in sight as john fell to the ground, crying out in pain.

Sky blue eyes opened in panic only to be met with the familiar white celling of his flat. After being discharged from the war, John still couldn't shake the nightmares. He sighed and got up to go to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, he sat in his living room, eating an apple and checking his emails and blog.

Recently, he had taken up a job at an aquarium as a security guard. It wasn't exactly a commanding officer, but it would do fine. Word was that the aquarium housed a merman, a rumor he thought far to silly to even be thought about.

He left the flat, calling goodbye to his lovely landlady, Mrs. Hudson and walking out onto Baker Street, John called a taxi and hopped inside, ready for his first day at his new work.


	2. Chapter 2

An: Hey, it's me again, I'm going to try to keep the updates a week apart, but school has started up again, so if I'm late, please try not to kill me in my sleep. Thanks for all the people who liked, followed, and reviewed! :)

~Moony

* * *

When he arrived at the huge brick building, there was already a giant line to get in the doors, security guards were already standing by, trying to contain the crowd. John went up to the nearest one.

"Excuse me, but I'm starting today..."

"Yeah, of course," answered the guard, "Go in, first door to your left." He pointed inside.

"Thanks, mate." John pushed into the glass doors, immediately noticing the door that read 'Staff Only' on his left. Slowly, he pushed inside to be greeted by a tall man, leaning on an umbrella.

"Ah, you must be John Watson?" He spoke in a formal manner.

"Yes, thats me." John answered; this must be Mycroft Holmes, the owner of the aquarium. Word was that he was a member of the British government.

"I assume you know who I am, your uniform is in locker 34." Mycroft left the room and John changed into his uniform. It was essentially just what one would expect a security guard to look like, utility belt and all. Only feeling a little silly, John stepped back outside and walked into the room where he was supposed to be guarding the 'merman.'

When he walked into the room, John nealry fainted at the sight before him. There was, indeed a merman in a large circular tank in the middle of the room surrounded by even more guards.

When they saw him, the guards walked toward him, "Good luck." they snickered, until John was alone in the room with the merman, he walked nearer, trying not to stare. He, like almost ever other person, had heard of the stories of beautiful mermaids that sang sailors to their watery deaths, but never had John heard of a merMAN.

The creature in question was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He had porcelain skin that faded into a gorgeous tail, covered with blue and turquoise scales that shimmered in the water. The tail ended in a large fin that resembled that of a dolphin, only that it was filled with a thin looking membrane that rippled in the water. His torso was littered with tiny scars, their origin seemed a mystery to John. But by far the most amazing thing about him was his face. He had a thin mouth, the sharpest cheekbones he had ever seen, raven colored hair that bunched into wet curls, and eyes that seemed to bore right through him, as if they were reading an open book. The blue orbs were shining with intelligence.

Suddenly, the creatures mouth opened. 'What would this merman have to say to me?' John thought. Suddenly, it was as if a mist clouded in his mind, every sensible thought was obscured by a this fog that surrounded his consciousness. Without being told to do so, John could feel his legs moving forward, towards the tank, as if he was a toy robot, the controller in the hands of someone else. At the edge of the tank, his arms raised to embrace the merman around the neck.

He was about to life the creature up, out of the water when a jolt went off in his mind. The mist disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and John gained control of his limbs once more. John let go of the merman as if he had been burned, turning around, he saw the the one who helped him escape.

She was a mousy looking woman in a lab coat looking at John like something like this happening was very common. Taking one more glance to the merman behind him, who was now sulking at the bottom of the tank, John turned toward the woman.

"Hi, I'm Molly, sorry about that. He tries to escape every time someone new comes in." she spoke, looking slightly disapprovingly at Sherlock.

"Oookkk, I'm John." He answered. How many times had the merman tried and failed to escape now?

"Come on, it's break time, the older guards are coming in to feed Sherlock." Molly spoke to John as the walked out of the room together, leaving the merman.

"Sherlock?"

"Oh, thats his name, although only a few of us know it, he's not very chatty."

Sherlock was a very odd name, but, then again, he was a merman. John followed Molly into the break room where she introduced him to Lestrade, another guard the knew Sherlock's name. He laughed a bit when Molly told him what had just happened and said that the same thing had happened to him. They spoke some more, and it seemed as if John might have some new acquaintances in this place.

JWJWJWJWJWJWJW

Sherlock was grumpy that, yet another time, someone came in the room at the most unhelpful moment. He sulked at the bottom of his tank, completely ignoring Anderson as he dropped a dead tuna in with him. Sherlock waited until the idiot was gone to start eating.

After finishing the sad meal, Sherlock waited until guards would walk back in and the aquarium opened once more. This was the most boring life he could ever hope for. People rarely spoke to him, and when they did it was like he was a object, to be examined and tested upon.

A few seconds later, Lestrade walked in, followed up by the same new guard that he had tried to use to escape earlier. Grumbling, Sherlock crossed his arms and sank to the bottom of the tank.

The new guard and Lestrade spoke for a bit, and Sherlock managed to leard that his name was John, and that he had come from the army. Whatever that was.

Over the past year, Sherlock, having little else to occupy his time, had developed somewhat of a sixth sense. He learned to deduce people. To be able to figure out their whole life story just by looking at them. Sherlock learned to notice even the slightest details around him.

Looking at John, he could tell that the man had recently left a very hot and humid place, in which he had also suffered a traumatic shoulder injury.

Suddenly, Lestrade turns toward Sherlock and addresses him. "Sherlock, this is John, say hi."

"We've met." He replies curtly. Why would Lestrade even want to make him talk to John.

"Hi, I guess we haven't really been properly introduced, listen, about what happened earlier, it's ok. I'm not mad at you or anything." John spoke so suddenly the Sherlock had a hard time realizing that the words had even come out of his mouth.

Why on earth made this human even think that he cared. So what if John was angry or not? None of the other people cared. What is wrong with him?

Sherlock could only look in shock trying to figure out why this human was an anomaly when the doors opened once again, and for the final time that day.

It's only in the next few weeks that Sherlock sees more of John. The curious human had even exchanged his meals with much better quality salmon. And after he had asked what Sherlocks favorite food was, mind you! This entire show of kindness had never been given to Sherlock by any human before.

He found himself interested in the world again, waiting until he got to see John again. Even the testing sessions with Moriarty had become more bearable with the thought that John would be coming back the next,day.

His torturer noticed the change in his demeanor, and hastened to make the merman depressed again. The tests became more harsh and painful, but nothing seemed to break Sherlock.

Sherlock had never cared for anyone before, why, WHY, was John so absolutely different and kind and wonderful?


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about taking so long. I know this capter is absolute shit, I'm sorry!

* * *

As the days turned into weeks, John found that there was never a boring moment with Sherlock around. The merman would talk about anything, he shared his deductions on the other guards and people that came in. The crowds were not as bad as they were when John first arrived, but they were still at large.

Sherlock often spoke of the ocean, and the wonderful things that lived in it. He told tales of following ships across oceans, and witnessing tsunamis under the safety of the water.

In turn John shared stories of the war, and of the wonderful people he had known. He shared words of heroic actions by his comrades and of his times before the war. When he was still in Uni, and of all the friends he had known in the past.

It was rare for any of the guards to see Sherlock without John around. They became inseparable. And all during his life, John had never felt happier, or more at ease, than he did spending time with Sherlock, his merman.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Frankly, Sherlock was scared. He had never really seen a friend in anyone, much less a human. But John was different. Somehow, Sherlock felt differently about John than he did about anyone else, a feeling he had trouble comprehending, no matter how hard he tried. So he didn't.

As the days went on, Sherlock felt his attraction to John growing. Until one day, they were alone, the aquarium had already closed and John was just saying goodnight to the merman.

He didnt even know what the human was saying, the only thing he could concentrate on was his mouth and the way it moved when he talked. Suddenly, his arms shot out of the water, spraying droplets everywhere. They wrapped around John's neck, and brought his lips crashing into Sherlocks.

Wide eyed, John was frozen to the spot, until he regained his senses and pushed away abruptly. He was out the door faster than Sherlock could let out the breath he had been holding.

Crap.

Sherlock sunk to the bottom of the tank in despair. Now John would hate him. Maybe even quit his job and go away for good. What had he done? Sherlock could do nothing but sulk about the failure he knew that he was.

The next day, Moriarty came for him. Sherlock had forgotten that it was Sunday already. This time, he didn't struggle, like he always did. What was there to struggle for now? The only good thing in his life was John, and now that was gone too.

Of course Moriarty noticed. He took extra care to enjoy the way Sherlock's face twisted in pain. This time, without the yelling and thrashing. But none of the tortures in the world could hurt as much as when John left. What was going to happen to him now?


	4. Announcement

Hey, Moony here. I am ** so **sorry about making you guys wait so long. I have been so busy with school and orchestra, it's been a mess. I just wanted to tell you that updates will be taking much longer than they have been. I feel so bad about doing this to you people, I really am. D:


End file.
